Question: Is bread with seeds really healthier than usual?

People once learned to make flour out of grains, and it turned the world upside down. The bread of ancient people was not like the perfect white batons that are sold in every supermarket today. If everything is clear with white flour – bread from it is not too useful – then what about baking with the addition of seeds? Together with Larisa Bavykina, an endocrinologist and a nutritionist at the Atlas Medical Center, we know whether to buy bread with seeds and what flour makes bread useful.

The short answer is that bread with seeds is healthier than ordinary white bread, but it is still bread with high caloric value and few nutrients.

– Bread is eaten every day by millions of people around the world. Bread is based on flour and water. Despite its long history, bread has been classified as unhealthy products. Why is that?

White bread is made from premium flour. It is perfectly white, suitable for baking on an industrial scale thanks to the considerable processing of wheat. Products made from white flour look perfect (and smell very good) but contain sugar, yeast, and sometimes enhancers. White bread is a high-calorie product with many “fast” carbohydrates and no proteins, fats, fibre, vitamins or minerals. Such bread saturates quickly, but the effect of fullness does not last long. White bread can be considered a product with low nutritional value, it is not recommended to eat it every day.

American experts advise to give preference to baking from wholemeal. It is made from whole grains, ground with all its parts, so the bread is rich in fiber, B vitamins, iron, potassium and other substances. Cellularity slows down the absorption of carbohydrates, which makes this bread nourishing. In addition, fiber is essential for the health of the intestines.

It is recommended to consume 20-35 g of fibre daily. 100 g of wholemeal bread contains 8-0 g of fibre, while white bread contains only 0.15 g. A slice of wholemeal bread will give you about 2 g of fibre, 20 mg of calcium and 15 mg of magnesium, iron and vitamin B6, while white bread will give you none of this.

The seeds in the bread make it healthier?

Seeds of flax, sunflower, pumpkins, sesame – sources of unsaturated fats, calcium, potassium and magnesium. Like nuts, seeds can be eaten every day in moderate quantities. It is important to understand that the presence of seeds does not mean high quality bread itself, so carefully study the composition. Good bread with seeds will be made from wholemeal, not from white flour of the highest quality.

How to Choose the Right Bread

the less ingredients in the composition, the better. In healthy bread there is no sugar, treacle, sugar syrup, white flour of the highest grade;

the bread must be undamaged, not wet, not sticky, without black dots or signs of mould;

pay attention to the shelf life. If the bread is suitable for six months, it means that it contains preservatives;

do not eat bread with mildew, bad smell or badly baked.

Many manufacturers mark ordinary bread with the addition of small amounts of wholemeal or fibre as “wholemeal”. This is a marketing move to make the product look more attractive to customers.

Look for bread that contains one hundred percent wholemeal specified as the first ingredient and does not contain any unnecessary ingredients – added sugar or vegetable oils.

That in the end

Any bread contains the carbohydrates our body needs. However, wholemeal bread and seed products contain more fibre, vitamins and minerals. When choosing bread, pay attention to its composition and expiry date. Trust your feelings – if the bread is very useful by all parameters, but you do not like it, find something in return.